Nemours: A little bit of France in nearby Delaware

View full sizeA tall, tree-like Oleander plant rises from one of the container flanking the entrance to the mansion.

Nemours Mansion and Gardens in Delaware is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Named after the du Pont ancestral home in France, Nemours was the estate of Alfred I. du Pont, who rescued the family’s gun powder manufacturing company from disaster, and later made his fortune investing in land in Florida. The site originally was an old mushroom farm.

A $39,0000,000 restoration of the 77-room mansion and the gardens within the 300 acres surrounding it, was completed in May, 2008.

Executed over a three-year period, the project utilized the skills of expert conservators and craftspeople. The formal gardens were landscaped, the 800,000-gallon reflecting pool was drained and repaired, statues, paintings, furniture and tapestries were refurbished and the electrical systems replaced.

LOUIS XVI CHATEAU

The Nemours Mansion is an excellent example of a Louis XVI French chateau and considered to be the grandest residence ever constructed in Delaware. Alfred I. du Pont was greatly influenced by his many trips to Europe and incorporated several elaborate sets of gates from abroad into the landscape.

The Russian Gates, a baroque style of French ornamental ironwork, were at one time owned by Catherine the Great. The 18th-century English Gates, adorned with pure gold, originated at Wimbledon Manor, outside of London.

My garden club recently hosted a bus trip to the mansion and gardens. After passing through both the Russian and English gates, we were greeted with a row of large, stone pedestal urns flanking the main entrance to the mansion and containing tall, tree-like Oleander plants in shades of red and pink.

LE PETIT TRIANON

Inspired by Le Petit Trianon, a small chateau on the grounds of France’s Versailles Palace, the magnificent gardens are renowned as the finest example of a formal French garden in North America. The stunning view looking out from the entrance to the mansion is awesome. Japanese cryptomeria line the long grassy walk along with flowering horse chestnuts, pin oaks and two rows of elevated urns festooned with pink flowering begonias and trailing vinca.

The beautifully landscaped gardens feature a 40-foot diameter fountain with 157 water jets surrounded by a reflecting pool. The pool, which covers two-thirds of an acre, was used by the du Ponts for swimming and boating. A rowboat — a reproduction of the 15-foot boat du Pont originally used there —floats in the pool. Carrara marble statues representing the four seasons stand at each corner.

The Southern Gardens, which are nearest the mansion, consist of three different garden “rooms.”

THE PARTERRE

Photos/Lee GugliadaThe Parterre at Nemours is a formal garden of tightly clipped boxwood surrounding beds of pink begonias and white impatiens planted in a symmetrical pattern.

The first, called the Parterre, is a formal garden of tightly clipped boxwood surrounding beds of pink begonias and white impatiens planted in a symmetrical pattern. As with all Parterres, it is best viewed from above.

The second garden room is called the Four Borders Garden and is planted with four intersecting beds of perennials. The transition from the formal gardens to the nearby woodlands is accomplished by the Frog Pond, the last of the three Southern Gardens.

The centerpiece of the Maze Garden is a 12-foot statue standing on a 10-foot base of red marble covered in 23-carat gold leaf. A hedge of red dwarf barberry creates a fleur de lis pattern at the base of the statue, while a hedge of arborvitae encloses this part of the garden.

THE COLONNADE

The Colonnade, reminiscent of the Gloriette at Schonbrunn Palace outside of Vienna, was built as a memorial to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his son, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont. A pair of red marble urns at one side of the Colonnade are from one of the palaces of the Austro-Hungarian emperor, Franz-Joseph.

A bronze statue of “Diana the Huntress” by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon is featured in The Temple of Love. The Rock Garden, which runs along the banks of a stream, features dwarf conifers and spring bulbs near a 90-year-old weeping beech tree.

In his will, Alfred I. du Pont requested that his trustees maintain and preserve Nemours Mansion and Gardens for the pleasure and benefit of the public. (The Nemours Foundation operates the Alfred I. DuPont Hospital, a well-known children’s hospital.) Nemours has been open for tours since 1977.

View full sizeOne of the large container plantings outside the Visitors Center.

The mansion and gardens are open from May through December, Tuesday through Sunday, and can only be viewed as part of a tour. The guided tours are excellent and groups are very small — usually only six to a group. You will need to call 302-651-6912 or email www.nemoursmansion.org ahead of time for reservations and to be assigned to a small group in advance.

Admission is $15 and includes a short video on the history of the du Ponts in America, a shuttle bus to the mansion for a tour, and a tour of the gardens.

You may stroll around the grounds or return to the Visitors Center via the shuttle bus, but in order to view all the gardens you will need to forego the shuttle bus on your return trip.

Plan on spending approximately three hours at the gardens and mansion, but be aware that there are no dining facilities on the grounds.

GARDEN NOTES

Eat locally by taking advantage of the farm markets on Staten Island. The Decker Farm, the Charleston Market, Staten Island Mall market and the market on Richmond Terrace all offer fresh produce that is grown nearby.

Lee Gugliada is past president of the Great Kills Garden Club and past director of First District Federated Garden Clubs of New York State.